1.49pm: Brady is sacked on third down and 10. Patriots have no time outs left, so if they don't complete this pass (fourth down and 16) it's all over.

1.44pm: TOUCHDOWN! The Giants remarkably tried not to score to run down the clock, but Ahmad Bradshaw was left with a huge hole to run through (left open on purpose by the Patriots) and went over. He tried to stop himself on the one-yard line but couldn't. Tom Brady has 57 seconds to get 80 yards to rescue New England. Giants 21 Patriots 17

Trying to stop ... Ahmad Bradshaw scores.

1.40pm: The Giants are second down and goal with 64 seconds remaining. Time out called.

1.38pm: The Giants are nearing the end zone. They have gone 70 yards in five plays.

1.33pm: Manning throws a 38-yard pass, the longest of the match. Amazing catch by Mario Manningham. The referee reviews the call and it's good. The Giants are on the march.

Crucial catch ... in the biggest play of the game, Mario Manningham caught this pass near the sideline.

1.30pm: Brady is unsuccessful on this drive and New England punt after a 48-yard drive. It's back with the Giants. Giants 15 Patriots 17

1.25pm: Tom Brady will be hoping to put a winning margin between his Patriots team and the Giants in this drive. The spotlight is on him, but he's certainly used to being the centre of attention. After all, he is married to Brazilian supermodel Giselle Bundchen.

Happy couple ... Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen. Photo: Getty Images

The power couple aren't short of a few bob and they've recently bought a $20m house in Brentwood, Los Angeles.

And it's not only Bundchen that appears in front of the camera for money. Brady himself does a bit of modelling. Here he is in an advert he did for Ugg.

Bundchen is so desperate for her husband to win today that she emailed her friends asking them to pray for him. Unfortunately for her, the New York Post got hold of it, and published it.

1.18pm: Manning throws and it's incomplete. Giants forced to punt and the Patriots have it on their own eight-yard line. Giants 15 Patriots 17.

1.15pm: Manning calls another time out. The Giants now only have one left.

1.07pm: If the game does go to overtime the NFL's rule - allowing both teams to have the ball if the first possession results in a field goal - will come into play.

1.03pm: INTERCEPTION! Chase Blackburn catches a Brady length-of-the-field bomb and the Giants have the ball. No Super Bowl has ever gone to overtime. Could this be the first?

1.00pm: Patriots coach Bill Belichick stands on the verge of a fourth Super Bowl win as a head coach, which would put him level with legendary former Steelers coach Chuck Noll.

He looks tetchy on the sidelines though. I hope no one gets in his way, like this photographer did.

12.55pm: Rob Ninkovich sacks Manning on third down, the third time the Giants' quarterback has been sacked in the match.

The Giants have been forced to settle for a field goal. Giants 15 Patriots 17. That's the end of the third quarter.

12.48pm: The Giants defence does its job and the Patriots are forced to punt from near their end zone. The New Yorkers are now in great field position on New England's 48-yard line. Five minutes, 36 seconds remain in the quarter.

12.43pm: Another break in play and some more adverts.

Elton John appears in a Pepsi commercial as a bored king. It's not my favourite (I wonder if Madonna will have anything to say about Elton), but Melanie Amaro, the first X-Factor winner, has an incredible voice.

And for all Twilight fans, check out Audi's vampire party advert ...

12.40pm: If you want to watch Madonna's half-time show again, check it out here.

12.38pm: Field goal for the Giants is good. Giants 12 Patriots 17. Six minutes, 43 seconds left in the third quarter.

12.32pm: Brady is showing why he is regarded as one of the best ever quarterbacks. He controlled that drive brilliantly.

He’s a strong guy, but when he joined the Patriots he was nothing of the sort. Check out this picture taken in 2000, just before the Patriots drafted him. He was pretty scrawny.

12.29pm: TOUCHDOWN! Patriots score with their first drive of the second half. Brady picks out Aaron Hernandez and they are over. Gostkowski slots the field goal and it's Giants 9 Patriots 17.

12.22pm: And the second half is under way. Giants 9 Patriots 10.

12.17pm: It'll be interesting to see how the critics review Madonna's performance. For me, Michael Jackson showed how it should be done in 1993.

12.14pm: Madonna certainly didn't hold back with her outfit.

Dressed to impress ... Madonna. Photo: Getty Images

12:07pm: There have been some hilarious performances over the years at the Super Bowl. In 1976, Up With People took to the stage ...

And at Super Bowl XXIII in 1989, there was Elvis impersonator, Elvis Presto, whose card tricks went down like a lead balloon.

And who can forget the Janet Jackson shocker in 2004 ...

12.04pm: Madonna opened with Vogue and is now singing Music.

11.54am: It'll be half-time entertainment soon, with Madonna taking centre stage. The Material Girl will be up there for 12 minutes and will give renditions of three old songs [still unknown] and her new track, Give Me All Your Luvin, which she'll perform alongside Nicky Minaj and MIA.

The 53-year-old follows in the footsteps of the Black Eyed Peas ...

11.50am: It's half-time. Giants 9 Patriots 10. The New York outfit dominated most of the half, but an amazing 14-play drive by the Patriots saw them steal the lead in the last minute of the second quarter. The rest of the game promises to be a nailbiter.

11.47am: TOUCHDOWN! Brady picks out Danny Woodhead. It was a 96-yard drive - the joint longest in Super Bowl history.

11.44am: Another break and another advert. David Beckham's piece for H&M is dominating the Twitter sphere.

11.39am: Not everyone is enjoying the game. (Non-American) footballer Wayne Rooney has this to say.

11.34am: Finally, Brady gets his arm going, finding Mr Reliable Rob Gronkowski with a 20-yard pass. Gronkowski has caught 17 touchdown passes this season – the most ever by a tight end. The Patriots are making good progress up the field.

11.27am: Tom Brady will not be happy with the way the game is going. And he's not shy of showing how he feels when things are against him. Check out this tantrum ...

11.25am: Cruel blow for New York's Travis Beckum, who has torn his anterior cruciate ligament and will be out for a long time. It's Giants 9 Patriots 3 with six minutes, 30 seconds left in the half.

11.15am: The Giants have won the past two meetings between the sides, including a 24-20 victory in week nine. Andy Benoit of The New York Times explains why the Patriots came off second best in that clash.

11.12am: The Giants are certainly in control. The Patriots will have to tighten up, with New England in danger of being exposed by Manning's deep passing game.

11:05am: Make that Giants 9 Patriots 3 as Gostkowski gets the Patriots on the board with a 29-yard field goal.

11.00am: SCORE UPDATE: Giants 9 Patriots 0

10.55am: Brady will now get the chance to redeem himself for his earlier error, but not before another advert break.

An advert costs an unbelievable $US3.5 million for 30 seconds during the Super Bowl.

And this year advertisers have broken with tradition with more than half of the 50 or so ads that are running today available for viewing before the actual match.

Check out this one with Jerry Seinfeld ...

And this one by Volkswagon. The car company has continued its Star Wars theme of last year with The Dog Strikes Back.

And for those who want reminding, here is the Star Wars-inspired advert from last year.

10.51am: TOUCHDOWN! Manning picks out Victor Cruz and the Giants are over. Lawrence Tynes adds the extra point and the Giants lead 9-0.

Touchdown ... Victor Cruz scores for the Giants. Photo: Getty Images

10.50am: Things go from bad to worse from the Patriots as they are penalised five yards for having 12 men on the pitch. Second down and goal for the Giants.

10.48am: It's the Giants' 18th play of the game to the Patriots' one. New York are on New England's 11-yard line.

10.45am: The atmosphere sounds incredible in the 63,000 capacity stadium in Indianapolis. Although the fans may not want to eat there after this was revealed in 2009.

10.40am: Brady’s first pass is incomplete, but a penalty is called against New England for intentional grounding. It’s a SAFETY and the Giants are 2-0 up.

10.35am: Manning had made a solid start, but was then sacked twice in three plays. The Giants punt and the Patriots will start their drive on their own six-yard line.

10.31am: Manning gets first chance with ball in hand. In the last five games he has thrown 12 touchdowns and just two interceptions.

And the great thing about Manning is he never seems to lose his head. This season he has thrown an NFL record 15 fourth-quarter touchdown passes.

10.30am: Stephen Gostkowski kicks off Super Bowl XLVI. It's collected at the one-yard line and returned to the 23-yard line.

10.28am: Tom Brady has won three Super Bowls. Check out these highlights (including an amazing pass from the floor at about 1.50 into the video), which show why he's so highly regarded.

San Francisco 49ers' legend Joe Montana and Pittsburgh Steeler Terry Bradshaw are the only quarterbacks to have won four. Judging by these clips, Brady will be in illustrious company if his team wins today.

10.24am: It's the coin toss at the Lucas Oil Stadium. The Patriots have won it and will kick-off.

10.20am: Kelly Clarkson has just sung the national anthem and the crowd seemed to like it. Well, it couldn't have been worse than Christina Aguilera, who was pitchy and botched the words ...

She even went on the Ellen show to explain her shoddy performance ...

10.05am: The main focus in the build-up has been on the two quarterbacks, Tom Brady and Eli Manning. Brady has thrown for 5235 yards and 39 touchdowns this season, compared to Manning's 4933 yards and 29 scores.

10.00am: This clash is a rematch of the 2008 Super Bowl, where the Giants pulled off one of the most remarkable upsets in NFL history.

The Patriots were on the brink of being the first team to finish the season unbeaten since the Miami Dolphins in 1972, before a Giants touchdown with under 40 seconds remaining saw them slump to a heartbreaking defeat.

With one minute, 15 seconds to go in the final quarter, the Giants were trailing the Patriots by four points. It was third down and five.

Eli Manning somehow broke free with a defensive linesman all over him and threw a brilliant pass to David Tyree, who seemed to defy the laws of physics to catch it.

Just a few seconds later, Manning threw a touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress to seal victory.

And here is the touchdown from a different angle.

9.55am: The game is expected to be the most watched US television broadcast of all time.

Last year's match between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers drew 111 million US viewers and is the current record holder.

NBC have exclusive TV rights in the US this year, but the game is also being screened live online for the first time.

To whet the appetite, here's a reminder of what happened last year ...

9.45am: The Patriots are firm favourites among Australian betting agencies, with Sportingbet, Tatts.com and Centrebet all offering shorter odds on a victory for the Boston team.

Yet the Giants certainly can't be ruled out. In fact, the team is so confident that they accidently published a picture on their website declaring themselves Super Bowl champions.

9.35am: The game kicks off at 10.30am (AEDT) and marks the end of a campaign which started in September.

The Giantsfinished the regular season with nine wins and seven losses, finishing first in the NFC East. In the play-offs they beat the Atlanta Flacons 24-2, the Green Bay Packers 37-20, and then the San Franciso 49ers 20-17.